LONDON.- Rising Ghana is a group exhibition held in the international vibrancy of central London. Featuring five key emerging contemporary artists it tells a story of self-expression and community driven support that extends out of Ghanaian domesticity and onto the world stage.The names in the show have been brought together by artist and curator Stephen Allotey under the coordination of PM/AM, presented in the gallery’s new space.

The last decade has seen a greater number of west African artists gain prominence in the international circuit of galleries, institutions and auction houses. Whilst the leading and most renowned of these have enjoyed career defining moments at the fairs and under the hammer, it’s the younger emerging artists that continue to inject vibrancy and freshness into the local creative infrastructure. The exhibition aims to celebrate this community, bringing their work into the middle of one of the world’s most bustling arts centres.

The Ghanaian scene is built on principles of co-operation and mutual support, with more successful figures reinvesting their time and attention into their formative circles. International names such as Amoako Boafo and Otis Quaicoe, friends from Accra, helped each other navigate their fairly parallel ascents through the wider art world. Their influence and encouragement has inspired numerous others to follow, many of whom now find themselves breaking through.

Ghana hasn’t benefited from the same level of state arts funding that underpins a wealth of creative activity in the global north, so it’s no wonder that artists tend to take things into their own hands, bonding a practical determination to their aspirations. The country is rich, though, in community spirit, and the energised backdrop of artist-run, independent spaces has allowed prominent galleries and arts centres to establish themselves, and locals to become successful international artists through their support.

Much of the work created by Ghanaian painters has a sense of celebration and pride, of west African identity, the visual and ethereal. We are brought into people’s domestic lives, workplaces and histories. That intuitive support begins in the quiet corners of these communities, reaching out and through the galleries and global artists that are putting Ghana on the world map.

The exhibition holds at its centre this notion, heavily featuring portraiture and figuration that centralises the power of people to inspire and nurture each other’s artistic pursuits. It is our aim to share with the art communities of London and the wider world these fundamental principles.